DSM invests €20m in spray drying

The new tranche of cash from the company’s own coffers is being invested in creating spray drying capabilities for DSM Food Specialities’, which help deliver yeast extracts for savoury food applications. The firm said the move would help minimise its dependency on third parties and provide a speedy service to customers.

In addition, it would cut one million road miles out of its supply chain, reducing DSM’s greenhouse gas emissions by 650t by taking spray drying in-house. “We presently have to work out a plan with third-parties, which is complicated and takes time,”​ Gerard Hardeman, business unit director, savoury ingredients, told FoodNavigator.

The new facility has been approved by the municipal government and is expected to be fully operational by the middle of 2013.

Demand rising for yeast extracts​

Hardeman said demand was rising for yeast extracts as natural replacements for synthetic flavourings. This was especially true in certain geographical markets. “If you look to Asia, it’s the strongest growing market in general [in this area].​

“The yeast extract market is growing on a yearly basis on several trends. Clean labelling and salt reduction are important drivers for this industry.”​ He estimated that sales of yeast extracts were increasing by about 5% and there were even reports that China could be growing ahead of the overall market. “We certainly will further invest in our savoury business.”​

Hardeman summed up the investment by saying: “This is all about control and sustainability. We are shortening our supply chain cycle. We see this as a healthy, growing business and want to grow our position in the market and increase our reliability for ourselves and our customers.”​ The move also gave DSM greater control over quality standards, he said.

Hans-Christian Ambjerg, president of DSM Food Specialities, said: “We want to generate value through innovation to our customers in the food, beverage and crop industries worldwide. Delft remains a very important location for DSM Food Specialities’ biotechnological research as a cornerstone of our global innovation network. This investment will help us bring innovations even faster to the market.”​

More sustainable​

In a statement, Hardeman added: “We want to continue to grow and differentiate ourselves based on the highest standards for consistent product quality, food safety and reliability of supply. Taking full control of our yeast extract production process by building this spray drying tower will allow us to improve in each of these areas and make our process more sustainable.”​

Spray drying is the third and final stage of DSM’s yeast extract preparation, the first being growing the yeast cultures and the second processing the primary yeast into yeast extract.

The €100m investment, which was announced in May, was poured into three research and development facilities. The money bought a new laboratory for bio-technical research in Delft and contributed to the recently formed Bioprocess Pilot Facility (BPF) in Delft for bio-research. The BPF is a centre of expertise and technology open to researchers from all over the world, funded by universities, businesses, the EU and the Dutch government.